Guest Post: Coconut Sugar 101 by Naturally Sweet Recipes

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The lovely sisters who blog at Naturally Sweet Recipes were pretty much the first bloggers I found who share my no-refined-sugar mentality. They bake their recipes with ALL natural sweeteners that are low on the glycemic index, like coconut sugar (which I learned about from them!), maple syrup, agave nectar, stevia and more.

I asked the sisters if one of them would mind stepping in to guest post while I’m away and share some information on one of our favourite sweeteners. The youngest sister, Chelsea, obliged and has provided a great post with all you need to know about coconut sugar and some fabulous recipes to try out. I’m sure you won’t mind taste testing these beauties!

Anna xx

Hi Guiltless Life readers!

This is Chelsea from Naturally Sweet Recipes. I blog with my two sisters, Holly and Annie. I am the youngest sister and currently a senior in high school.

I love blogging about favorite natural foods and recipes and I am very excited share about what I love by guest posting for Anna!

At Naturally Sweet Recipes, we try making traditional and popular treats more healthy by using natural ingredients and sweeteners. Because we don’t use sugar, many people often ask us “So… What do you eat?”

There are many different alternatives to regular sugar. Today, I wanted to share with you a little about one of our favorites – coconut sugar!

I really love this natural sugar. It gives great flavor and helps contribute to an amazing, rich texture. It has really become a staple in our homes because of its great taste, caramelizes very well and can be used in so many ways. It’s also simple to use. If a recipe calls for one cup of sugar, you use equal measurements – so one cup of coconut sugar. How easy is that?!

Coconut sugar is such an awesome sweetener, it has even been raved about by Doctor Oz. Doctor Oz says it best here.

And to give you more information on this sugar, coconut sugar can actually be found by different names. It is popularly called coconut palm sugar by many US companies. But there is really coconut sugar and palm sugar. In Asia, where these sweeteners are widely used, they come in different forms and are used in slightly different ways. Both sugars have low glycemic indexes and are rich in many nutrients and vitamins. Whichever one you use, try to buy the best quality you can find. Like anything, not all brands and products are created equal.

One of our favorite brands and one that Annie buys regularly is Big Tree Farms. This company has had great reviews and products.

Coconut sugar really is an easy alternative and much healthier that regular white sugar. And in our opinion, tastier too! To give you an even more tempting invitation to try this delicious sweetener, we’d like to share a few of our favorite recipes with you. All these
recipes are sweetened only with the awesome ingredient of coconut sugar.

These are our go-to waffles when we want a yummy breakfast, brunch, or even dinner! They are light, fluffy and filling. And they have great flavor thanks to the cinnamon and coconut sugar.

These cupcakes are so rich and decadent, you’d never know they are refined sugar free! Complete with super fudgy chocolate buttercream, they are the perfect celebratory treat!

Chocolate chips cookies have got to be the most FABULOUS late night treat. The coconut sugar in this recipe replaces the brown sugar to create a rich, chewy and healthy cookie!

Hope these give you some sweet incentives to try this great natural sweetener!